How lucky we are to have a beautiful pool at the condo we’ve rented in Bangkok. That said, we’ve only sat poolside for about 90 minutes over the past 25 days. We’ve found that when we have all the time in the world, there is no rush for us to do things we would have had to squeeze in on a short vacation or on a weekend when we were working full time.

The pool will continue to be here for the remainder of our time in Bangkok and most likely the sun will continue to be shining. As we exhaust other options, we will get down there more often; mid-week seems to be best time to go.

So if we aren’t frolicking in the pool or getting bronzed on the deck, you might ask, “what are you doing with your time?”

We certainly aren’t going a full tilt. On a typical day, we are up at about 7 a.m. Make coffee. Go online and check the news. Some mornings I’ll go to the gym in our building or go for a run on the treadmill or brave the side streets in our neighbourhood.

Before lunch we are usually out the door and winding our way on the sidewalks looking for food.

When we arrived in Bangkok, we promptly bought a pass for the skytrain. It’s a great way to get around the city. We have also relied on Uber and Grab to get from place to place.

There are no end of shopping centres in Bangkok. Large malls where you can find everything you need (and then some). We tend to hit a mall when we are looking for something specific and it can often be a good place to find something fast and delicious to eat. I’m on the hunt for a new pair of shoes – two pairs actually; runners and a casual pair of walking shoes. Despite all the options, my search continues.

Open wide – that’s just a green drape with an opening, not a full hood.

I’ve been to the dentist for a checkup and to have my teeth cleaned. There’s a new dental clinic (Habito Dental) about 500 metres from our building. After a little research online to check the experience of others, I booked an appointment.

I’m not a nervous dental patient and don’t have the dental issues that some people have, so this was an absolutely painless, professional experience. I’m good now for another six to eight months.

We’ve each found a place to get our hair cut. As you might expect, there was a tad less research on finding a barber than there was on selecting a dentist. It went something like this, Me: “oh look, they cut hair here.” $8 later, I was good for another month.

We have also become somewhat addicted foot massages. If you’ve been to Thailand and haven’t had a foot massage, you’ve missed a real treat. There are several massage places around us and they all they list their services and prices on the front window: Thai massage, foot massage, neck and shoulder massage, oil massage, etc.

It really is a misnomer to call it a foot massage. For over an hour, you are seated, fully clothed, in a reclining chair where the masseuse starts kneading your feet, then calves, shins, and quads. Some will even massage your hands and forearms. Then they all finish with a short shoulder massage, neck stretches and some back crunching. It’s not entirely relaxing, but helps provide much relief to tired and sore legs and feet from all the running and walking. We have only done the one-hour session: they do offer the same for two hours but I don’t think my muscles could take it.

We also took the opportunity to do some touristy things when a nephew and his wife were visiting from Canada: temples, floating market and other, great photo-worthy spots.

Reclining Buddha

Sunset from our place

Water taxi

Vendor at the floating market

Having unstructured time opens up more time for reading. I’m plowing through a novel called Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.  It’s an entertaining read that takes place in India. For some reason, I’m drawn to novels that take place in India – A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry is my favourite book.

We also have watched a few shows on Netflix, some of the ones we’ve enjoyed, include: The Five, The Crown, and Rita. We also went out to see a movie, which is something we rarely ever do in Canada.

It’s hard to justify having someone come in and clean when we have such a small place. So some of our days include the mundane: laundry, floor washing, bathroom scrubbing.

That’s been our first month in a nutshell. It doesn’t sound like much and it really isn’t I suppose. We expect that things will kick up a notch in the coming weeks (and posts). When we aren’t planning things in Bangkok, we’ve been planning our next destinations.

Tonight we fly to Australia: a few days in Melbourne visiting friends – then a few days in Sydney – from there we fly to Wellington, New Zealand, rent a car and drive around the North Island for two weeks. We also have Hong Kong in the hopper and we are planning some beach time in Thailand. Oh yeah, we also have to plan what cities and countries we want to hit as we make our way back to Canada.

That’s it for now. Next post from “Down Under.” If you have any tips for us, please share them with us in the comments section.